The defender published a video in which he opens the door to returning as president in the future

Piqué leaves football forced by Barcelona

photo_camera AP PHOTO/MANU FERNÁNDEZ - Gerard Piqué, FC Barcelona player

The life of footballers is a rollercoaster of situations that even they do not control. The fame, the spotlight, the money... everything gets out of control and at an age when they barely know how to manage their emotions.  

This is what happened to Sergio Ramos right at the peak of his career. After presenting a documentary with Amazon, the Sevillian went into a spiral of injuries and strange behaviour that led him to leave Real Madrid and spend a bad first season in Paris.  

Now it is Piqué who is quitting his job. Like that great resignation everyone talks about that says good workers no longer ask for raises, they leave the company unceremoniously.

The Barça centre-back broke up when his relationship with singer Shakira blew up and was exposed in all the media. To this must be added the historic economic crisis of his club, Barça, of which he is an important part because he has been one of the players with the highest salary. Xavi has not had a left hand with his role in the team either and, finally, Joan Laporta. The president was keen to see everyone back but Piqué, he sold him out to the soçi and now he has managed to save a lot of money with his imminent departure.  

Piqué was always the master of his life as a footballer. And that is strange because players are slaves to a life that brings them many economic and social benefits, but takes away their freedom. What's more, Sergio Ramos himself has dedicated a tweet to Piqué where he says "Enjoy life" in reference to this new stage without club rules that bind him.  

Gerard Piqué left the Spanish national team involved in a somewhat unfair controversy. His behaviour with his fingers while the anthem was playing or with the flag on the sleeves of his shirt did not help. Nor did his ambiguity on the Catalan independence referendum. He always supported its holding, but did not make it clear that he wanted independence as a good member of a bourgeois family and grandson of Amador Bernabéu, vice-president of Barcelona and delegate of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.  

All that was enough to put an end to his international career that crowned him as a world champion. The most important title in the career of the players who win it and which, curiously, Piqué named in second place in his farewell video after becoming European champion with Spain and Barcelona.  

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His role as a businessman was a constant challenge to Barça. Trips, presentations, media exposure... a free and uncontrollable soul in a Barça that was bleeding to death financially under Bartomeu's presidency. Piqué himself saved the president's furniture by introducing Rakuten as a sponsor and raising a lot of money for the club's ailing coffers. That gave him the ability to manage his life beyond training and matches without anyone raising their voice.  

Piqué would not have left football if he was a starter at Barcelona. But the new stage and the clamp that Xavi and Laporta have put on him has been stronger than his desire to wear the blue and white shirt.  

On a sporting level, Xavi has also shown his incompetence in managing what was once his team-mate. He has not been clear with him and has subjected him to public punishments such as the substitution at the Bernabéu after his serious mistake against Inter, which left Barça in the Champions League.  

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Laporta has not lowered his tone either. The president appeared before the members accusing Piqué and Busquets of not wanting to reduce their salaries to give the club economic oxygen. That was a further stab in the back that helped Pique experience the definitive sign to quit: boos at the Camp Nou in the match against Villarreal.  

His image was badly damaged the day the press published audios revealing the shady dealings he has had with Luis Rubiales and which have left the RFEF in a very bad light. Talking about money, about prizes, treating Rubiales as 'Rubi' or being called 'Geri', did not go down well with either side. Piqué became judge and jury in an official competition and Rubiales allowed it to happen for the money.  

Now Piqué can fully dedicate himself to his life as a businessman. He no longer has to submit to the schedules of a footballer, he can cycle around Barcelona and travel to watch Formula 1 with his children at any circuit. He will continue to dominate his scene and that of any footballer who wants to put himself in his hands to make decisions, as Griezmann once did.  

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If Piqué gets kicked out, Piqué goes and, as he knows the ground he walks on, he goes in peace because one day he will again occupy the box of the biggest stakeholder in his departure and who knows if he will do so in an election. Face to face.  

The footballer leaves, but the character stays.   

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